The White Death of Konoha
by Blackout785
Summary: It's been four years since the Kyubi attack, when Sandaime sealed the fox into Naruto. Yondaime rules Konoha, but there are rumours of one of his students, Kakashi Hatake, going rogue and joining the Akatsuki. Meanwhile, Obito and Rin receive a mission to extract a deep cover agent of Konoha from an inflitration mission, and encounter some old friends along the way. AU, NO Yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

The White Death of Konoha

**Sorry if it's a bit confusing at the beginning, things will be cleared out few chapters later.**

**PROLOGUE**

It was a dark, gloomy Monday evening in the western parts of the Hot Water Country. The sky was covered in clouds and thick mist hang in the air. Whilst at first, this would seem an innocent weather occurrence, but any Shinobi worth his salt could sense Chakra pulsing in the air, and note that the mist was artificial. If one such Shinobi were to follow that pulse, he would find himself near a largeish lake in a desolated countryside, far away from any settlements. At a first glance, it would seem that nothing was out of the ordinary, but once again, Chakra sensitive people could clearly see that several high-level Jutsus had been used in the area, recently. But then, one might notice the faint sound of metal clashing against metal, and take an even closer look. Should one do so, he might find himself treated to a rather extraordinary sight.

Two men were standing in the middle of a lake, as if the watery surface was ordinary earth.

They were both locked in a struggle, a contest of strength and endurance, as their respective weapons were locked against each other, and both sides attempted to overpower each other. The only movements were tiny, temporary shifts in balance as both sides gained and lost the advantage for a split second before returning to a deadlock.

One was a tall, muscular man with short, spiky black hair. He was shirtless, with only his toolbelt covering his upper body. He also wore a bandaged mask covering his lower face and a forehead protector with the marking of a Mist-nin with a long scrape running across it, marking him as a Missing-nin. He was holding a massive broadsword shaped like a giant butcher knife, with one hand down on the handle and another on the back side of the single-edged blade, allowing him to put more force into the effort.

His name was Zabuza Momochi.

The second was another tall man with a cloth-mask around his lower face, but that was where the similarities ended. His hair was white, and he was wearing a long, dark cloak with red clouds, a red interior, and a chin-high collar. He wore no headband of allegiance, and a long, jagged scar could be seen under the eyepatch that covered his left eye. He was armed with a pair of kunai, one on each hand, that were even now pressed against the blade of the other mans broadsword.

He was known to some as Kakashi Hatake, but many knew him by the moniker given to him by his enemies, the "White Death".

They were both Missing-nin, but one worked for an organization and another for himself.

In an instant, so quickly that even if you stared at the two of them without blinking, you might miss it entirely, both of the men simultaneously leapt back several feet, adjusted their weapons to one-handed grip or sheathed their off handed one, and formed a one-handed-seal. That both of them had executed the maneuver simultaneously, and what happened next, was testament to both the similarities in their fighting styles and how evenly matched they were.

Both of them channeled their Chakra into a jutsu that would incapacitate or simply distract their opponent from the follow-up blow that both were even now planning. With both of them exhausted from the battle before, they decided to use a jutsu that was just strong enough to be useful in this situation, and weak enough to not drain their already-drained reserves too much. Both of them also were skilled enough that they could execute their attacks in complete silence, but an observer well-versed in Shinobi arts might note that the Jutsus used were Static Shock Bullet and Condensed Water Spear.

Next to Zabuza, ripples could be seen on the lake's surface as water gathered in one place, before bursting from it in a pressurized blast of water that could easily take the head off from a grown man.

At the same time, Kakashi raised his open palm towards his foe, and crackling, white lightning Chakra gathered into his hand before blasting off in a flash of light.

The two Jutsus met in midair, lightning vaporizing water, and water soaking electricity, Both of them were of same strength, and in the end they cancelled each other out.

"Well well, Hatake. It looks like we're equally matched,"

"We'll see about that, Momochi,"

Kakashi vanished and reappeared in flashes of lightning as he Body-Flickered behind his opponent. He thrust the kunai in his left hand towards Zabuza's back counting on the slow movement of the broadsword to allow him to attack before the swordsman could retaliate.

Before the dagger could connect, Zabuza countered the attack by spinning around and raising his foot, diverting the blow with the metal plate mounted on both sides of his combat boots.

Balancing on one leg, the former Mist-nin brought his blade, Kubikiribocho, in an overhead blow aiming to bisect Kakashi straight down from the middle.

Kakashi countered by blocking it with his free hand, the massive broadsword digging into the metal of kunai, but the dagger held, even if only barely, despite being almost comically outsized by one of the near-legendary Swords of the Mist.

Kakashi, seeing that his blade wouldn't hold out for much longer, defused the situation by bringing his other Kunai to bear on Zabuza, forcing him to leap away. Kakashi glanced down on his Kunai, and noting the deep gash on the blade, dropped it. The near-useless weapon splashed against the lakes surface before sinking to the bottom.

There were already nearly four dozen such kunai, in addition to a katana that had been snapped in half and a tanto that had shattered entirely, only small fragments remaining of the blade.

This same pattern had repeated itself for quite some time. Neither of the combatants could overpower each other. Many combinations, ambushes and clever plans had been employed but so far none had succeeded.

Then, for some time the battle had turned into a Cat and Mouse where Cat and mouse exchanged places regularly, but in the end Zabuza's specialization in ambush was negated by Kakashi's keen senses and skill in avoiding ambushes.

Thus, they had begun attempting to overwhelm each other with Kenjutsu and Taijutsu, which had led them to their current disposition. It was now a race of whether Kakashi would run out of weapons to block the Kubikiribocho and discard after they inevitably were ruined by the far larger weapon, or Zabuza would run out of stamina from swinging the massive broadsword around.

Currently, Kakashi was running on his last two Kunai, after which he'd have to resort to shuriken. Those could be used in close combat, but anybody stupid enough to even blocking with them wouldn't have survived long enough to learn to use them in the first place. In the opposite side, Zabuza was, at least from what Kakashi gathered from the sweat dripping into the lake, Zabuza was getting near his limit too.

The former Mist-nin began to form seals for a jutsu, his hands flashing through dozens of them until settling upon Tiger.

"Exploding Water Cannons!"

Three streams of water blasted towards Kakashi, joining into one massive torrent. Before they could reach him, Kakashi countered with a shield of lightning that vaporized the water, but Zabuza kept on adding Chakra.

_'So, he goes for the risky tactic,'_ Kakashi thought as two more streams joined in on the onslaught, and his shield was beginning to falter. _'He's willing to risk being too exhausted to fight me if this attack fails. And so, the endgame begins.'_

As the total count of the water cannons reached seven, the crackling shield of electricity burst into an impressive lightshow before shattering, and the massive torrent of water swept Kakashi away.

As the mass of water sped away, it began to weaken slow down as the distance between it and Zabuza increased. Finally, the torrent lost cohesion and fell apart before revealing Kakashi in the middle.

Large parts of the black-and-red cloak had been ripped off leaving Kakashi's chest bare, revealing the massive bruising he'd received from the water attack. There were splashes of blood in what remained of the cloak, and his right arm was bent in an unnatural angle.

Whilst the water fell off, Kakashi's body, in accordance to Newton's first law, continued to sail through the air… before being impaled upon Zabuza's sword that he'd simply pointed forward after Body Flickering to where he knew the Jutsu would deposit his masked foe.

Blood was now running freely, running down the length of Kubikiribocho and dripping into the water. The legendary sword had impaled Kakashi through the stomach, around half of it sticking from the back. The cloaked Shinobi coughed blood and the black mask turned red, and his hands dangled to the side.

"Not so equal after all, are we," Zabuza taunted.

"Yeah. You never stood a chance."

As he said this, Kakashi lifted his hand, and pulled the blade deeper into his body.

_'Wait a second,'_ Zabuza thought. _'Something's amiss.'_

He looked at the blade and seeing the chinks and nicks that the various weapons that Kakashi had wielded during the fight, and frowned.

_'There's blood running all over Kubikiribocho, so why isn't it regenerating?"_

Like the other weapons employed by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, his blade possessed a unique power, this being its ability to reform itself using the iron harvested from the blood of its victims. This regenerative process takes place almost instantaneously when the blade is in contact with blood, and is capable of bringing the weapon back to its original condition in short order. This meant that its wielder would never have to sharpen, repair or otherwise worry about his weapon.

So why wasn't it working now?

Suddenly, electricity began to crackle around Kakashi. As the sound grew in loudness and the lightning in intensity, Zabuza realized what was happening.

_'Fuck!'_

Zabuza attempted to leap away, but the electricity pulsing through Kubikiribocho had already cramped his hand muscles, and he was unable to release his hold on the handle.

In a flash of light along with the sound of a thunderclap, Kakashi dispersed into a mass of lightning that was then conducted through the metal blade straight into Zabuza.

Paralyzed, Zabuza could only watch as the real one burst from under the lake's surface, whilst the chirping of a thousand birds filled the watery battlefield.

"Chidori!"

This was not the only one of Kakashi's original techniques but it was the first and the one that he was renowned across the Elemental Countries for. Lightning danced in his hand as he prepared for the final blow.

As Zabuza saw his doom approaching, he knew it already too late, but he was never one to give up. He began to cycle his Chakra through his network in an attempt to invigorate himself, but it was no use.

It was testament to Zabuza's skill that he _almost_ managed to dodge the Chidori, having thrown himself to the side, but it was no use. The Chakra filled hand ripped off a huge chunk from Zabuza's right shoulder and chest, sending blood everywhere and filling the air with the smell of burning flesh.

Zabuza slumped and began to sink underwater, his eyes glazing over. Just before the former Mist-nin was completely submerged, Kakashi reached down and grabbed his Hitai-ate as proof of his kill, and seizing the handle of Kubikiribocho from his hand.

Swinging the legendary sword over his back, Kakashi used what little remaining energy he had to drag himself back to the shore before summoning his Ninken to guard from intruders and falling down under a tree, his eyes barely holding open.

The last thing he sensed before darkness took him was the sight of his Ninken growling at a man, right side black and left white and with a cloak similar to his, that had appeared out of nowhere, and the words the man said to him before disappearing.

"Congratulations. After that final test you've been accepted as a full member of Akatsuki."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the reviews, they give me motivation and motivation makes me write more. Also apologies, if my writing drops in quality here because I don't like writing social interaction nearly as much as I like fight scenes.**

**Fantasi Liar: Thanks for the support. As for the test, Kakashi ****_is_**** 18 when this fic takes place. The way I see it, he's pretty well known but no ****_that_**** well. (This may or may not become a plot point later.) So it's pretty reasonable for the Akatsuki to make sure he's up to the level they require from their members before they give him his ring (which is pretty valuable to them on its own so they don't just give it to anyone) and trust him with more critical missions.**

**DogoodOfSilence: Thank you, I'll try to do as best as I can.**

**Prescripto13: Thank you, my plans will become apparent in the near future.**

**Angelazzy: Thanks for the support, hope you aren't disappointed if this story doesn't turn out like you expect it to. I've got some twists in mind, but they shouldn't be that hard to guess. XD**

**Yungsun: Thanks for the support.**

**The White Death of Konoha**

**Chapter 2**

**Three days later…**

Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage, also known as Konoha's Yellow Flash, sighed as one of his Chunin aides dumped another pile of paperwork to his table and any hopes of getting home and spending some quality time with Naruto vanished like a fart to Wind Country.

Minato leaned forward and rubbed his eyes. He tried to be as good of a father he could, but he feared he was neglecting the boy. When he first accepted the position of Hokage, he'd expected that Kushina would be able to take care of their children while he worked, but he hadn't even for a second contemplated that Kushina might die.

After his wife had died from the strain of a Tailed Beast being extracted from her, Minato had avoided Naruto for some time, hiding behind his duties as Hokage. But in the end, his students had realized what was happening, and correctly analyzed that Naruto reminded Minato of Kushina too strongly for him to be able to bear.

Kakashi, Rin and Obito had hoped that he'd come to his senses soon, but when he continued to avoid his son, the tree of them had locked him into the same room with the infant Naruto along with instructions and all the equipment he'd need take care of Naruto and threatened that if he broke out they'd prevent him from ever eating ramen again.

This impromptu therapy session had worked, and after some blunders and failed attempts at comforting a crying baby, Minato had gotten over most of his issues and realized that even though Kushina was dead, she'd pound him to the dirt for mistreating their child if she wasn't.

Kakashi had even provided him with a solution to most of his paperwork problems, but unfortunately Minato didn't have the enormous Chakra reserves of his wife, so couldn't keep his Shadow Clones up for too long and his aides along with the Council got snappy when he disappeared from important meetings in puffs of smoke. Even then, Minato tried to risk it as often as he dared and tried to squeeze a free afternoon to spend with Naruto at least once a week.

He knew that there was discrimination going on against his son, due to the him being the container of the Kyubi, the Nine-Tailed demon fox. Hundreds had died that fateful night four years ago, and there wasn't a person in Konoha who hadn't lost someone, be it lover, friend, child or parent. He'd tried to keep it secret, but one of the Chunin aides who'd lost his wife in the Kyubi attack overheard him talking about the seal with Jiraya and spread the knowledge.

While he knew that at least nobody would dare to physically abuse the boy, at least after that incident two years ago. One of the Naruto's caretakers had gone to work drunk, and had ended up throwing bottle at the two-year old child.

Only the direct intervention of Jiraya and Minato's entire cadre of students plus half-a-dozen elite Jounin had prevented him from killing the man with his bare hands.

After that, none of the villagers dared to even touch Naruto, but he knew that they were abusing the boy in every other way, in conversation that they thought were out of the boy's hearing range, by ignoring the boy whenever they could, by teaching their children to stay away from the Fox-freak.

Minato couldn't exactly command the village to like his son, and not even the Ino-Shika-Cho Clan heads were of any help. Naruto had been born in the same generation as a large number of the new Clan Heirs, and the Clan Elders did everything they could to keep the future of their Clans away from the Jinchuuriki.

Minato had been puzzled as to how it just so happened that the heads of almost _every major clan in Konoha_ managed to have children at nearly the same time, but Rin had reminded him of the phenomenon known as "Post war baby bloom".

Many families had decided that raising children during a war wouldn't be a good idea, and when the Third Shinobi World War ended and the soldiers returned from the front-lines to their families, the birth-rate in Konoha jumped up drastically.

In the end, Naruto was growing up to be a lonely boy who hadn't managed to make a single friend of his own age, with only the close friends of his father spending time with him.

Sometimes Minato wondered whether he should've taken Kakashi up on his offer to become the Jinchuuriki instead, but the particular seal Sandaime and he had used became stronger the younger the recipient was.

Thinking of Kakashi, Minato was once more overcome with guilt about what he'd done to the boy. He hadn't liked it and still didn't but it was necessary for the good of Konoha.

Just as he was about to return to the torture known as paperwork, Minato felt a burning sensation prickle across his forearm. He panicked for a second before he realized what it meant, and then panicked a bit more.

_'Already? Something must have gone wrong.'_

He watched as the one-use messenger seal vanished. He then tapped another seal, inscribed into his office table, the writing glowing softly.

"Crane!"

After a second or two, the bird-masked ANBU operative leaped in through the window, and after checking the room for hostiles, kneeled in front of Minato.

"Get me Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara, Aoba Yamashiro and Anko Mitarashi. Tell them to report to my office immediately, without delay."

The ANBU vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Minato to his thoughts.

* * *

It was a nice, sunny day in Konoha. Birds were chirping and people were laughing. Obito and Rin were walking along the main road, just enjoying each other's company.

Obito's wardrobe had changed little along the years, only size changing. He was still wearing his trademark orange goggles and blue jacket under his Jounin flak jacket. His hair had grown even spikier and his jaw was covered in rough stubble.

Obito had been promoted to Jounin at the age of 16, not a bad achievement by any standards, but still overshadowed by Kakashi's promotion at 13. He had become a renowned master of Fire Release, and Minato and Jiraya had taught him the Toad Summoning Contract. He had been exiled from the Uchiha clan soon after that mission to Kannabi Bridge, cutting off his ties to his family before moving in with Kakashi.

_Flashback_

/

Obito walked across the Uchiha compound, trying not to be seen. It was Friday evening and his father was probably at least mildly drunk by now. Obito's mother had died when he was seven, and his father Takeshi Uchiha, hadn't been the same since then.

He had once been an outstanding member of the clan, known for his strictness and adherence to clan traditions. He had spent much of his time in missions, leaving the up-bringing of his son to his wife, Karenshi.

Unfortunately, this meant that he'd played little part in Obito's life, and the boy became a hot-blooded loudmouth that was constantly late and frequently forgot important events.

After his wife died, Takeshi was drawn to the bottle, and his career suffered. Obito spent most of his time out of the Compound or with his Aunt Mikoto, but sometimes he merely got unlucky.

The Uchiha clan was reluctant to let Takeshi leave the Compound in fear of him disgracing the clan name, and admitting to the rest of the village that yes, even the elite of the Uchiha could fall from grace.

Confined, Takeshi had finally taken some interest in his son's life, and discovered that the brat hadn't even awakened the Sharingan yet. Even worse, they boy's grades in the Academy were less than outstanding. Having been a elite Shinobi from a young age and excepting his son to be even better, Takeshi's expectations were far above the level Obito was capable of.

When Obito was put in a Genin team with Kakashi Hatake, a renowned genius and the youngest Genin and Chunin ever, Takeshi's demands grew even more unreasonable.

The situation between father and son was further compounded by the incident where Takeshi met with Obito's team while full-on drunk. He insulted Kakashi, degraded Rin and threatened to take Obito from Minato's tutelage if the boy wouldn't start showing more progress.

It nearly ended in blows when Obito, angered by his father's comments about Rin, yelled at Takeshi, who struck the boy for his insolence and Minato retaliated. The situation was only resolved by the intervention of Minato's then-girlfriend-later-wife Kushina and Mikoto, whom the former had been visiting.

After that incident Takeshi had tried to remove his son from Team Minato, but the Uchiha elders wished to keep and Uchiha in the Genin team of the up-and-coming Hokage.

Frustrated, Takeshi became even more unstable, and began to take out his frustration by beating Obito when drunk. He also verbally assaulted Obito's ability as a Shinobi, his failure at attaining the Sharingan and his team.

Minato had attempted to do something to help Obito, but Clan law overruled the village law in such matters.

Thus, Obito had learned Takeshi's habits and attempted to avoid his father whenever possible.

Ashe stalked through the Compound, Obito pondered the mission they had just returned from. Kakashi, whom he'd always thought was a complete asshole, had taken the blow meant for Obito, sacrificing his left eye in the process.

Obito had also learned of Kakashi's father, and the reasons why he adhered to the rules so tightly. It had shaken Obito, and he definitely didn't want to meet his father in this kind of state. Kakashi was in hospital and the nurses were doing what they could to repair his eye, but it didn't look good. If his Father made one more degrading comment about his team, Obito wasn't sure he'd be able to take it.

He had almost reached his room, and was already mentally congratulating himself, when he heard the rough voice of his father. He could clearly smell the alcohol in his breath as the man's hand fell on his shoulder and roughly turned Obito to face him.

"And so the failure returns. Tell me you at least completed the mission, though that might be too much to expect from a failure like you. I hope at least one of your teammates managed to die so you could finally get your damn Sharingan. If they're that damn important to you, they might as well do something useful for once."

Obito clenched his fist, fighting to keep his voice from shaking.

"Everyone made it back, thank you for your _concern_," he responded. "I'm sure they appreciate it."

"Don't you play smart with me, boy! I've heard that the Hatake brat managed to get his eye poked out. Not so great Prodigy after all if he gets taken down that easily."

Obito's entire frame was shaking as he muttered through his teeth:

"He lost his eye by taking a blow that was meant for me."

"Well at least he's good for _something_, though he couldn't make the sacrifice for his village properly. Should've let them take his whole head."

"Like you would know anything about sacrifice," Obito muttered.

"Don't you talk back to me!" Takeshi roared, and his fist slammed into Obito's left cheek, sending the Chunin sprawling to the ground.

The older Uchiha kicked his son to the side, before raising his leg to stomp on his face. Obito's eyes flashed red as he activated the Sharingan, rolled to the side and got up before the boot could connect.

Takeshi, now beyond his senses, charged at Obito with his fist raised. Takeshi, assuming that his son was a failure in all respects, hadn't ever even paid attention to the fact that whilst Obito wasn't particularly good at other respects, he was natural at Taijutsu, and managed to challenge and even win against Kakashi from time to time.

On the other side, Takeshi himself hadn't gotten in a battle beyond bar-brawls in seven years, and his skills had rusted badly.

These factors, in addition to his drunken state led to the fact that even a Chunin could beat a former Jounin in battle.

The fight was chaotic and consisted of Takeshi drunkenly flailing around the apartment attempting to get to Obito. After a few minutes, both sides were bruised and bleeding. Even with the horrible state he was in, Takeshi was still and adult that possessed far more physical strength than Obito, and his muscle memory hadn't faded completely.

After taking a punch to the face that broke his nose, Takeshi, now absolutely livid, took out a kunai and attempted to stab his son. Obito, instincts having taken over, managed to divert the blade down to Takeshi's own leg.

Horrified at having stabbed his own father, Obito noticed too late that Takeshi had, drunk though he was, formed a series of Hand-seals that all Uchiha would instinctually recognize.

"Don't do-"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

In his drunken state, Takeshi had put far too much Chakra into the Jutsu and instead of forming into a ball, the Fire Chakra expanded in all directions, blasting through the entire house.

Obito had just about managed to flip the kitchen table and hide behind it. He then created a small scale Water Jutsu to drench himself before the wave of heat washed over him. The explosion picked up the table and threw it through the kitchen window, taking Obito along with it.

The last thing he remembered before blacking out was the glass splinters cutting into his skin and his shoulder being dislocated by slamming into the hard dirt.

/

_Flashback end_

After that, he'd woken in the village hospital along with a note from Clan head Fugaku Uchiha that he was hereby expelled from the Uchiha clan.

Everyone involved knew that Takeshi was the one to create the fireball, but in the interests of protecting the Clan honor, they decided to pin it on Obito being suicidally reckless when practicing. In the end it was Takeshi's word against Obito's, and retired alcoholic or no, if it came down to it, the Council would sooner believe a 45-year old Jounin than a 13-year old Chunin.

The matter was rapidly swept under the rug by the Uchiha after they threw Obito out, who then moved in with Kakashi before getting his own apartment. He hadn't liked being unable to spend time with his younger cousins Shisui or Itachi, but then again, the elders had viewed him as failure for quite some time, and restricted him from "spoiling" the next Clan Heir and one of the up-and-coming prodigies of the Uchiha Clan.

Rin, on the other hand, had become a renowned Medic-nin and user of Water Release. However, many had viewed her as the weak link of Team Minato as she had no Kekkei Genkai nor genius ability. Those had quieted after she managed to sign a contract with one of the most prestigious summoning animals known in the Shinobi world.

Rin wore her sleeveless black top and a light purple apron-skirt, under which she wore black shorts. She had grown her hair to shoulder-length and wore her Hitai-Ate around her waist.

The two of them had been dating for the last three years, when Kakashi and Minato had had deemed the situation hopeless and basically told them to get together. After some awkwardness they had noticed that they got along really well, one thing lead to another, and they soon found themselves living in a small apartment together. Obito had, after much stuttering and help from the male part of their generation, managed to propose. Rin had been speechless for quite some time and Obito had been about to bolt in case he'd offended his girlfriend by rushing things, but Rin had interrupted him by hugging him and claiming that of course she accepted.

They had been talking about the wedding, but they had both agreed that their third teammate needed to be there, and with Kakashi on a long-term mission they had had to postpone the wedding.

They had, of course, heard the rumors of Kakashi's desertion, but they dismissed them immediately. Kakashi was a loyal Shinobi of Konoha, and Minato would never lie to them about something like this. If he said that their silver haired teammate was on a long-term mission for the foreseeable future, then Kakashi _was_ on a long-term mission for the foreseeable future.

As they were walking across the street, they were interrupted by a puff of smoke and leaves appearing in front of them. The smoke cleared away to reveal an ANBU soldier with a bird-shaped mask.

"Lord Hokage wishes to inform you that you are to report to his office immediately," the man recited before disappearing once more.

"Stupid Sensei interrupting our walk… Well, let's go," Obito said before heading towards the Hokage tower, Rin following close behind.

* * *

Stepping through the door to the waiting room, Obito and Rin greeted Anko and Aoba, both of them their colleagues and friends.

"Do you have any idea what we're here for?" the eternally sunglass-wearing Tokubetsu Jounin asked them, going straight to the business.

"Nope," replied Obito.

"We were just given an invitation by ANBU. We have no idea what Sensei has in mind," Rin continued.

Just as she finished saying that, the door to the Hokage office opened, and Minato's head appeared, grinning.

"Don't believe a word she says, she always knows what I have in mind, don't you Rin? Come on in, all of you and shut the door behind you."

As soon as the door clamped shut, Minato's goofy façade fell, and the four Shinobi were treated to a rare sight of their Hokage being visibly stressed and tired.

"I have an Unranked retrieval mission for you."

Obito immediately straightened his and went to full mission mode. Unranked missions were rare, they meant that there was no information available on the enemies they may face. It could be anything from kittens to S-ranked Missing-nin and Tailed Beasts, and the team that took it was expected to be able to counter a wide range of enemies.

"If you feel that you have a reason to refuse this mission, express it now. This is your first and last chance to back away. I will not hold it against you, and this mission won't appear on your record."

Obito, Rin, Aoba and Anko remained silent, and Obito motioned the Hokage to continue.

Minato performed a hand-seal, and all four of them felt the Chakra barriers forming around the office, not even a shred of whatever information was discussed here would leave this room.

"Earlier today I received a covert transmission from one of our deep cover agents on an S-class infiltration mission of high importance to Konoha's security. He was fitted with a one-way communication seal that will allow him to transmit a pulse of Chakra to a corresponding seal on my forearm. It is essentially a panic button of sorts, telling us that he has gained critical data or cargo, and needs extraction immediately. Your objective is to gain contact with the agent and bring whatever info or cargo he has acquired back to Konoha along with a situation report from our agent."

Misato took a deep breath as he continued.

"Once you have reached our agent, you will collaborate with him on further actions. If his cover had been blown, you will escort him here or if necessary help him blend back in. We have little intel on what the situation with our man is, so you need to exercise caution in making contact and not blow his cover unless you have to. Each of you has been selected because you have both a wide range of skills all of which might prove useful and enough skill and power to be able to fight your way out if needed. You also have no loyalties to any major clans that might jeopardize this mission."

At this, Minato reached to take a scroll with an elaborate Fuinjutsu seal from his desk, and gave it to Obito.

"Here's the file containing all the info you need. It has an elaborate seal preventing anyone from reading it until you've followed your initial instructions."

He took another scroll and handed it to Obito, who opened it and considered them before handing it to Anko

"You will find here the instruction to find the counterpart seal that will unlock the first one. Obito, you will be the teamleader. You will leave ASAP, time is of the essence."

Finished, Minato gestured for the newly-formed team to leave.


End file.
